


Sapling

by under_a_linden_tree



Series: under_a_linden_tree's prompt ficlets [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Bonding Time I Guess, Gen, Mini-Fic, Nanny Crowley (Good Omens), Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22963162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/under_a_linden_tree/pseuds/under_a_linden_tree
Summary: “Nanny, do you like the gardener?” Warlock asks. It's not an easy question to answer - and yet, there's nothing easier.
Series: under_a_linden_tree's prompt ficlets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755112
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28
Collections: Soft Reading Material





	Sapling

**Author's Note:**

> Taken from my tumblr @under-a-linden-tree. Written for the Ineffable Husbands Week.

“Nanny, do you like the gardener?” Warlock asked. **  
**

She considered for a moment. There could be little harm in admitting to it, and it might even do some good for the boy, establishing trust and the like. Not that she was particularly inclined towards the good, but the boy preferably should be.

“‘Course I do. He’s a clever man,” she said.

The boy nodded; it seemed sensible to him. “Is that why you like him?”

“Everyone should like clever men. They can be very valuable friends, as long as they don’t stab you in the back.”

Warlock laughed, a sweet and innocent thing. “Brother Francis would never stab you, Nanny. Don’t be silly.”

She smiled at the knitting needles in her lap, glinting sharply in the light of the midday sun. Her thin fingers picked up the yarn again, and Warlock watched her eagerly. He asked many questions these days. Only a week ago, she had explained to him how to knit, so when she saw another question form on his round face, she was prepared to tell him about yarns or patterns.

Warlock, however, surprised her.

“But if you like Brother Francis, why are you always fighting with him?”

“I’m not always fighting with him,” she insisted. “Name one time we were fighting.”

A grin spread across the boy’s face. He had obviously expected this and was excited to recount his story. “When we went to London the last time, you and Francis were allowed to come and you were fighting on the whole way. You said he was killing the begonias. I think you were pretty mean, Nanny.”

She smirked for a moment, then her expression became more serious. “Sometimes, even people who like each other fight. Just look at your mother and father.”

Warlock nodded sagely. This made sense to him. He could often hear them bickering about this or that, but mostly about his father’s job. Warlock never liked it when his parents fought but he had often been told that they loved each other nonetheless, and it was a reassuring thought.

A thought that led him to another thought.

“Nanny?”

“Hm?”

“Do you _like_ Brother Francis?” he asked, a picture of wide-eyed innocence.

“I just told you- ah, I see what you mean.”

She remained silent for a moment. There were many things she found infuriating about him (his treatment of the begonias certainly the most insignificant source of resentment), and yet, she could not help it. She liked the way he smiled at her whenever she brought Warlock down to the gardens, she liked the way he made her laugh, although it could never happen often, and in a sense, she even liked it when he quickly turned away, because she knew it meant he liked it, too.

Warlock prodded her hand gently and pulled her from her thoughts. “Nanny? You don’t have to tell. I see what you mean.”

He gave her a reassuring smile, picked up his toy and wandered off, down the gravel path to the orchard, where a figure clad in white was overwatering a sapling.


End file.
